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EF1 tornado in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Tornado May 6, 2009 · Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

0.2 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

$100K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado touched down along CR-21 on the western side of Lake Arnedra, crossed the lake, and then lifted on the eastern shore. Two large hardwood trees were blown down onto houses causing major damage to one of the homes and making it uninhabitable. Another hardwood was toppled on the western shore of the lake.

The wider storm

An upper level disturbance and a nearby stationary front combined to produce numerous severe thunderstorms across Central Alabama, that included damaging winds, large hail, and several tornadoes.

Began near Shirley (33.2887, -87.7031).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

8 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Pickens County EF1 Pickens County EF1 Tuscaloosa County EF1 Walker County EF1 Jefferson County EF0 Walker County EF0 Walker County EF0 Blount County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 176010. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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